The NSF is doing a time audit (Nature 4 Oct p 512 - sub) to check that grant recipients are actually spending the promised time on their research.
Apparently they (and the NIH, and DoE, and DoD) just noticed that "top researchers" tend to have grants totalling to more than 100% time committment.
And, y'know, if they were actually working more than 40 hour weeks, than they'd be due overtime: triple overtime... (really, the time I worked 110 hour weeks one summer we got triple time after the first 80 hours - only double time on hours 40-79 though).
Nah, better to "fine" the universities and make all PIs do time cards.
In 15 minute increments.
With spreadsheets.
Lots of spreadsheets.
Colour coded spreadsheets.
In 20 years they will wonder why the US is not winning any more Nobel prizes.
Probably because their researchers aren't working hard enough... slackers.
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Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
I had a somewhat frantic administrator call me up a few weeks ago who was really nice to me, which made me nervous. Turns out she just needed me to do some really quick "effort reporting." It turns out, I just had to sign that my postdoc and me were spending the promised time on the grant. I guess I know why now.
And it may not be clear to "outsiders" but generally one only gets two months of summer salary from the NSF in any given summer no matter how much you might ostensibly be committed. So we're really not talking about wasted taxpayer money as far as I can tell.
But as for your suggestion of spreadsheets, that's a great idea. I'm always jealous of my lawyer friends who are slaves to "billable hours."
There is no need to be worried about this audit. If you certify effort on a regular basis, your effort certifications are consistent with salary distributions, and the total effort allocated to sponsored research programs for each individual is not unreasonable on its face, then there will be no problems.
Circular A-21 makes it clear that there is no expectation that academic scientists keep time sheets, and that in an academic environment research, teaching, and administrative effort can be inextricably intertwined and impossible to account for completely separately. All that is required is a reasonable estimate of effort.
These auditors are not making any attempt to identify how particular scientists actually spend their time. They are simply looking for obvious inconsistencies. Obviously, an individual cannot expend more than 100% effort on sponsored research. More subtly, but still relevant, auditors will look askance at individuals who clearly have substantial administrative or teaching responsibilities allocating unrealistically high percent effort to sponsored research. For example, it is pretty much indefensible for the provost of a university to certify that 90% of her effort is devoted to sponsored research.